Fortune cookie is a crisp cookie which has a printed/written message inside it, when you open it. The message could be a saying or a fortune. These are usually served in Chinese restaurants as a dessert, in other countries but not in china. The origin of the cookies are not very clear, but then the popularity of these cookies have made up their mark in family get togethers or fun parties with friends.

I had a small memory to share with you, when I decided to make fortune cookies for this week. Long before when I used to have not much to do practically, those times when I used to be waiting for orders to be taken and other times I used to figure out what next recipe to blog and those days I used to put up a recipe one in each month or it even had longer duration. I was chilling out at my mom’s place having lot of fun and gossip chats. I received a phone call asking to make an order. I was excited to take it up and I was all geared up to listen. The order was described in a very low tone, highly hesitant – I couldn’t understand the reason why. It said, if I could make about 200 fortune cookies for a friends marriage party. Honestly, I had no idea how different a fortune cookie was. I only thought, I can make any cookie, whatever may it be. I confirmed the order while I was googling to find out, that it was not like any of the other cookies that I have made. It said I cannot make more than 2 cookies at a time and only an expert can get 6 fortune cookies baked in a single shot and each batch needs about 10 minutes of baking time.

Before understanding how critical it is to bake that many fortune cookies I quoted a price that a sugar cookie would cost . Nevertheless, the pricing was not important to me that time. I just wanted to go ahead and finish it with all my heart. The client also told me finally, she had enquired the order with almost about 10 bakers in the city and no one agreed to take it up – so that meant, all the other 10 bakers had known what fortune cookies were, and I didn’t , Good for my client and definitely good for me as well !!
Geared up with a lot of mental planning with time. Tried out few samples, failed them. I even tried to better make them as pan cakes in the tawa on my stove, as they looked similar, but they didnt turn crispy later :/ . I slowly got the hang of it. With trying a couple of cookies at a time, I slowly moved on to 3, 4, 5 and finally made 6 at a time. Bravo!! Took me a continuous 18 hours of time. My oven changed its color with the continuous heat and even today every time I look at my oven,
I think of this Now, I am not going to conclude what was good and bad in this event, it is up to the perspective in which this could be taken. Really really later, which in the very recent times, have I really learnt to say a ‘NO’, until then I had only ‘YES’ in my vocabulary
Fortune cookie batter is almost like a cake batter. They have to be spread out like a pan cake but thinner than that. Baked in the oven for 10 minutes until the edge becomes golden brown. While they are still hot, you have to place the fortunes on top of the cookie, fold them and then shape them on a cup while they are still hot and then let them cool and take shape inside a cupcake pan. If you let them cool before placing the fortune message and shaping them, they will become brittle and break by the time you will shape them. So you need to have a lot of heat 1/4
tolerance, or wear glouse that gives you enough grip to hold the cookies with your fingers and also protect to from the heat. I do it bare hands, well, when I did those 200 cookies continuously, at the end I had 4 of my fingers had huge boils
Check out here for a lot of lovely fortune messages

Recipe source – ifood.tv

1. Pre-heat oven to 170 degree C. Line up a baking tray with silicon mat preferably or butter paper coated with a thin layer of butter. Print out the fortune messages or write them out in a paper.

2. Cut them out into strips. Each strip to the size of 3 to 5 inches would be ideal. You can fold them if they are long.

3. Add egg whites into the bowl of your electric beater. Beat until lightly frothy.

4. Add sugar and beat again on medium high speed for 5 minutes until the mixture becomes pale, creamy and fluffy.

5. Add butter, water and salt into the mixture and beat again on medium high speed for 2 to 3 minutes.

6. Add the flour all at once and beat again on medium high speed until the batter comes together smooth.

7. Measure just exactly a tablespoon of the batter. Pour it on the prepared baking tray.

8. Spread it out like a pan cake, but thinner than that. A 4 inch circle would be ideal.

9. Make just 2 of them, if you are beginning to do it, then just one would also be ideal. Bake in the pre-heated oven for 8 to 10 minutes until the edges get brown.

10. Place the baking tray over a wire rack.

11. Immediately use a metal ladle and flip the cookies upside down. They will be very flexible when they are hot.

12. Place the fortune message in the center of the flipped cookie.

13. Use the ladle to close the cookie into a semi circle.

14. It would have just taken 5 seconds to reach here, now you have 3 more seconds, to pick up the cookie holding both the ends of the semi circle. With the joining ends facing upwards, keep the middle of the cookie over the edge of a coffee mug and bend it downwards giving it the shape. Go downwards as much as you can.

15. Immediately remove it from the mug by still holding it to retain the shape from the mug and place it inside a cupcake tin.

This would take about 10 minutes to cool down completely. Once cooled down the shape would be retained. Continue baking the rest of the batter the same way. If you are quick and got the hang of it, you can go on bake 3 at a time and then when comfortable at it, you can increase the number. Here the best way to handle the shaping part is, speed. To hold them with your fingers, to shape them on the edge of the mug and then to place them inside the cupcake tin – all of these 3 steps should take a maximum of 3 seconds. Yes, that’s how it should be, you cannot wait until each step to think what you have to do next, because you cannot hold it longer and it will hurt. Visualize the steps in order and get it done in a jiffy. When you have done for one, then you will get yourself an expert at it.

Go on, get creative at choosing your messages and well, finally you deserve to check your fortune. Would you like to see what I got.

Now you need to plan a party to host these fortune cookies, They deserve one, don’t they ?! Wishing you all a very happy new year and the fortune that I received is one that I dedicate to everyone of you out there. Have a blessed year ahead with everything well in your world,
safe and sound !!